Clifton Hall

Details

NOTTINGHAM

SK53SW HOLGATE, Clifton 646-1/9/281 Clifton Hall 14/04/54 (Formerly Listed as: CLIFTON Clifton Hall)

GV I

Country house, now university offices. Late C16, altered c1632, probably by John Smythson. Internal alterations late C17, and c1731-62, probably with the assistance of Lord Burlington. Remodelled c1779 by John Carr of York. Further alterations C19. Converted 1953. Brick and ashlar with hipped stone slate roofs. Various coped stacks, mostly on side walls. EXTERIOR: main ranges have plinth, first floor band and pierced balustrade. Windows are mainly glazing bar sashes with projecting ashlar surrounds, the second floor windows are smaller. 3 storeys; 15 x 5 bays. C-plan. Symmetrical fronts to an irregular interior, with central octagonal hall flanked to left by a first floor Great Chamber. Square wings, the principal rooms to left, service rooms to right. Entrance front, to south, has a recessed centre, 5 windows, flanked by wings of the same size, linked across the centre by a single storey colonnade of paired Tuscan columns. Several false windows in the centre, which screens the central hall. Under the colonnade, an off-centre door, and at each end, round-arched doors. Wings have similar fenestration, with unequal spacing to left. West front, by Carr, ashlar, has a central bow window, 3 storeys, with round-arched windows to the ground floor, and reglazed first floor windows. Side bays have blank ground floor, and single windows above. North front has 7 windows, unequally spaced and some false, and a doorway in the fifth bay. To left, a square projection, 2 storeys with quoins and parapet, containing the main stair. Pedimented doorcase to west, Venetian stair window to north. North front has 4 windows, several reglazed, and altered porch. INTERIOR: octagonal hall, c1731-62, 2 storeys, has modillion cornice and panelled domed ceiling with arabesques. 3 pedimented doorcases with columns, 4 niches with statues, marble fireplace. Under the cornice, 4 Diocletian windows and 4 half-round plasterwork panels by Dugdale. Morning room, to left, early C18, fully panelled, with strapwork ceiling and Rococo marble fireplace with portrait medallion supported by cherubs. Great Chamber, c1632, has framed panelling and polychrome marble chimneypiece, probably by Smythson. Decorated strapwork frieze, C17, and strapwork ceiling, probably C19. Panelled ground floor room on north side, early C18, has 4 doorcase and overmantel with broken pediments, marble fireplace, and panelled ceiling. Main stairwell has moulded cornice and stone open well stair, C19, with wrought-iron balustrade. West wing has on the first floor a panelled pages' room, early C17, with a rare decorative scheme showing military drill, and frieze with the 7 Deadly Sins. Doorcase with columns, vine trail and heraldic crest, C16, resited. Bedroom, panelled, with foliage plaster frieze and lobed panelled ceiling with monograms. Probably by Goudge for Sir William Clifton, c1684-86. Stone cantilever stair with winders and crinoline balustrade, c1779, posssibly by Carr. 3 panelled rooms at the west end by Carr, 2 with Adam style friezes and overdoors, and 6-panel doors. The history of this building is complex and is not fully understood. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Nottinghamshire: London: 1979-: 270-272; Conference handbook, 1989, Soc. of Architect. Hists. of GB: Hewlings R: Nottingham: 1989-: 68-71).

Listing NGR: SK5403434842

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

457260

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Williamson, E, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire, (1979), 270-272

Other
Hewlings, R, Conference Handbook, (1989)

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